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The Braja Lila of Lord Srikrishna in theDwapara era is filled with romantic

descriptions. The soft ripples of river Yamunablended with flute melody, churning eroticemotions, golden fish jumped on tiny waves,the plants and creepersblossomed with the whisper ofspring breeze, the dancingpeacocks elevating the romanceof hundred 'kadambas' asSrikrishna kept hypnotisedsixteen thousand 'gopis'enthrilling the whole ofBrundaban. The juvenile 'gopis'foolicked into the bower ofhiptage 'Madhablata' inpretence, where their heartstealer was smiling in a divineposture. In the first glance theywere surrendering in romanticecstasy for a few passionatemoments and enjoying the azure beauty ofSrikrishna to their full content. IntoxicatedSrikrishna, with sixteen thousand sweetenedkiss-bites on his body, was twining the passionscorched gopies in an intense embrace. He wasfulfilling the wants and emotions of sixteenthousand 'gopa' maids by rejoicing exoticpastimes in moonlit autumn and jubilant spring.

There is no mention of a parallelmusician as Srikrishna in the Mahabharata.Even after being such an unprecedented

musician he handedover the flute, the symbolof love, with a smile to his beloved Radha insolitude while departing from Gopapur.Thence, never he has played flute again norlooked back at his beloved during his life time.

He proceeded to Mathura at theage of ten accomplishing theBraja lila on the banks ofYamuna. A male attainspubescence by the age of fifteenand this lusty romantic body isable to satisfy the adolescenteffeminacy. But Krishna fullysatiated the lusty emotions ofGopa maids at the age of tenwhile tending cattle inBrundaban. He was then apreadolescent youth. Life iscomposed of five prime agephases : babyhood,preadolescence (kishore),

adolescence, adultin-mature and old. Theperiod from babyhood pastimes till puberty issaid to be inadolescent. Krishna has beencalled in the names of Kanhei Kishore, GopaKishore, Nanda Kishore, Braja Kishore andRai Kishore etc. which clearly indicates hisinadolescence. These names are limited to theperiod of 'Gopa Lila'. This title of 'Kishore'(inadolescent) pertains to none other thanKrishna. In the epic of Ramayan, the term'Kishore' has not been vividly used for theinadolescent age of Ramachandra. The pre-

Neelamadhab : The Mysterious Thorny Statue

Sudarshan Sahoo

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adolescent erotic grandeur of Krishna is theincidental myth of divine sensation. In the daysof Ramayan, Lord Ramachandra protected thesacrificial rituals of sixteen thousand hermitskilling a lot of demons. While moving in theforests of Dandakaranya, all the saints fell in amomentary trance with the glance of an azurecountenance of Ramachandra though they wereaware of Lord's incarnation on this mundaneworld. That trance was the sensual gravitationof worldly attachment. In the epic 'Chitta Vinod'by Achyutananda, these saints are said to bethe small hairs from the body of Mahalaxmirooted out with 'Haladi Malukha' (dirts ofturmeric) and born as saints in Dandakaranya.As being the physical part of Mahalaxmi theyall cherished to be with Ramachandra (Vishnu).But they were born as males having no femininetouch. Ramachandra could understand theirinner core and wished them to unite in the nextincarnation (Dwapara). This again indulgedthem in mortal rejoicing instead of salvation.The nectar-passion-merged ones entombedthemselves in the supreme divine body ofKishore Kanhei, posing as beloved for theGopa-Braja-Brindaban pastime in Dwaparaera.

The time limit of Dwapara pastime wastoo short. Towards the end, Srikrishna left forHis eternal abode with an arrow shot byJarasabar. In Srimad Bhagabatam (11 : 32) itis described that the left foot of Srikrishnalooked like a deer's ear to Jara Sabar and witha hunting purpose he hit the arrow. But hediscovered that He is four-handed Lord andbegged apology. By the time of departing fromthe worldly body, Srikrishna went into fire-meditation by which his mortal body was there;but he went above. The lords showered flowerson him and pleasant sounds of drums and otherrhythms were coming from the heaven whenhe went up.

The Pandavas tried to cremate the bodyof Srikrishna with sandal wood for seven days,but failed. Not even a single hair from the bodygot burnt. The same is described in 'DaruBrahma Gita' by Jagannath Das and 'IndraNilamani Purana' by Bamadev. The body wasalready cremated by fire-meditation. Hence nomaterial on earth could destroy it. Ultimatelythe Pandavas sailed the body in the sea.

The sea water also could not destroy thebody of Srikrishna. As it contained the supremesoul, no element was capable to touch it (Gita- 2 : 23). The corpse floated in the ocean foreras together and came to the eastern coast incourse of time where it was discovered byViswabasu (the Sabara king). He lifted thecorpse, the glittering azure hued Daru Brahma.Drops of water falling from the smallest nailcorner of the left toe of the body pierced bythe arrow. Innocent and amazed Viswabasuexperienced unique divine ecstacy withincessant water drops streaming from the railcorner of the magnificent image. The sweet-kissed non-flamable non-soakable Daru-Brahma of Srikrishna developed sixteenthousand thorns on it in a mystic process whilesailing in the ocean for a prolonged time. Theeternal water drops streaming from the left toeis afterwards described in mythologies as'Ganga from nail corner of Vishnu'. The Daru-Brahma was preserved by Viswabasu in a cavein the dense forest of Brahmadri-Padmadri. Itwas a tiger's cave and the tiger guarded thecave. It only submitted to Viswabasu exceptwhom no one could enter the dense forest. Onthe very spot, Brahma went into deepmeditation for a long time for Vishnu afterwhich it is known as Brahmadri. Adjacent tothis, the first lotus on earth was blossomed topacify the infuriated sun as described in the55th chapter of Surya Purana, and sun-Lotuslove culminated into marriage. In Bhumi Sukta

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of Atharva Veda it is picturised that the lordsof heaven gifted the essence of lotus at marriagemoment which she is wearing and emittingdelicately in each morning to enchant the earth.Hence the small hill adjacent to Brahmadri isknown as Padmadri (the Lotus Hill). The twinhills are known as Brahmadri Padmadri inSkanda Purana. The twin-hills are shaped inform of a lotus in nature and the beauty is parexcellence. This is 'PadmaKshetra'. There are fivekshetra in Utkal. Apart from'Padma-Kshetra' others areSankha Kshetra (Puri),Chakra - Kshetra(Bhubaneswar), Goda -Kshetra (Jajpur) and Arka-Kshetra (Konark).

It is described in theSanskrit Volume 'NiladriMahodaya' that Vidyapatifrom the kingdom ofMalaba (Madhya Pradesh -Gujrat) came in search ofLord Neelamadhab andentered the forest of Savara- Island crossing riverMahanadi. King Viswabasuoffered him generoushospitality. This location is surrounded byrivers and known as Savara - Island Forest asdescribed in Mushali Parva of Mahabharat. Itis sung in Skanda Purana that Vidyapati spentthe night on his chariot reaching the bank ofriver Mahanadi and crossed the river in thedawn. It is mentioned in the Kapila - Samhitathat Lord Neelamadhab stands on the bank ofriver Mahanadi, 56 miles west of PurusottamKshetra. A 'darshan' after holy bath in the riverMahanadi on the eleventh day of bright fortnightof month of Magha results in Nirvana. The soulreaches Param Brahma and he does not come

back to this painful world. There are elaboratedescriptions of Lord Neelamadhab, (the Lordof 'Padma Kshetra') in the epics of ParsuramSamhita, Ramayan, Chitta Vinod, SkandaPurana, Niladri Mahodaya, Mahabharat andKapila Samhita. In Chitta Vinod, Achyutanandahas described that King Indradyumna himselftried a lot applying his full strength to removethe statue of Lord Neelamadhab, but invain.

He ultimately heard theheaven voice to go to thesea-shore where he woulddiscover the Daru Brahma(the Log) out of which thetrinity of Jagannath,Balabhadra and Subhadrahave been carved. Thestatue of Lord Neelamadhab(the body of Srikrishna)which was worshipped bySavara king Viswabasu stillstanding on the Brahmadri-Padmadri, according toAchyutananda.

The statue is thornyand the sixteen thousandsare the mystical expositionof love-blended honeykisses of the Gopi's whohave merged into the

'Vigraha - Vaikuntha' of Srikrishna who turnedto be four handed statue at his end. Theturmeric-wiped hairs from the body ofMahalaxmi ultimately took birth as Gopi's inDwapara and again merged into thesupernatural being of Srikrishna (Vishnu) to beentombed as 16 thousand thorns on the DaruBrahma. The statue of Lord Neelamadhab isexclusively exquisite and there is no singlestatue anywhere which is thorny like this.

After revival of Brahmanism bySankaracharya a large number of Shiva and

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Vishnu temples were constructed in Orissasince 9th century A.D. onwards. Eminenthistorians and archaeologists opine that thestatue of Lord Neelamadhab belongs to 9thcentury A.D. But none have penetrated thereasons of thorns. It is void of justification toassign the thorny statue of Lord Neelamadhabto 9th century A.D., from the archaeologicalaspect on the purview of discovery of Buddhistsculptures of 5th, 6th and 7th century A.D. inthe smoothest form excavated from Lalitagiriand Ratnagiri. The intact and beautifulexposition of archaeological splendours ofLingaraj Temple and Rajarani Temple of 10th/ 11th century A.D. and Puri Temple and Konarktemples of 12th and 13th century A.D.respectively even after considerable decaythrough ages. For the thorny reasons of thestatue of Neelamadhab, no artist would havecarved it alike as there is no thorny descriptionof a Vishnu image. If it been so, a lot of or allstatues of Vishnu would have been carvedthorny. Here delinked from archaeology, thisexclusive image is mysterious.

In this age of modern science many maynot rely on this mystery. Srikrishna existed asa human being. It is doubtful that a human bodycan exist for three thousand five hundred years.(It is the opinion of Dr. S.R. Rao, the chief ofthe Dwaraka Marine Archaeology ResearchUnit that the sub-merged city has gone undersea since 3500 years back. Srikrishna also toldthat Dwaraka would go under sea after hisDeparture). The worldover know that thePumpei city was destroyed 2000 years backby vulcanic eruption from Vasuvius in Italy.But strange, bodies of people have existedintact as alive and their statues are wonders ofthe modern world. Modern scientists have keptmum to this miracle. Srikrishna was a grandeurof miracles and his body has no answer. Allhistorian of the world are looking towards thedrowned city of Dwaraka, where the facts of

Mahabharat are twinkling. The modern scienceis still like an innocent child before the 'Daru-Image' of Srikrishna, the glazing symbol ofSanatan theosophy.

Lot of mythological aspects have beenendowed with the twin hills of Brahmadri -Padmadri. The main Sanctum Sanctoriumstands on the top centre of the hill surroundedby various co-lords. Exactly adjacent to thesouth, stands the temple of Siddheswar. TheShiva linga of Lord Siddheswar moves southand north according to the south-northmovement of sun as per seasons. It is visibleby any devotee. The image of LordNeelamadhab is the non-destroyable, non-soakable, non-flamable azure body ofSrikrishna existing today on Brahmadevi, themultiglorious heavenly abode on earth. TheSkanda Purana has appraised the imagemeasuring 81 fingers. The geographicalexistence is described as 'Saka-Dwipa' in SriVishnu Purana where Lords of heaven desireto get birth after their jubilance in the heavens.According to Surya Purana, the Sun God casta whirl of furore on this hill for which LordSiddheswar is moving south-north. The smalland open sun-temple in this complex representsthe sixteenth chapter of Yajurveda. Rudra isworshipped as sun in this tmeple, representedby a standing statue of Shiva. There is a lotuson the top of this temple. This place of Brahma,Vishnu and Maheswar is 'Baikuntha' on earth.The incomparable beauty of sun-set hypnotizesany viewer.

Nourishing the celestial thorny corpse inits lap for millenia together since ancient times,the holy place blessed with exquisite naturalpanorama is presently known as Kantilo (TheThorny).

Sudarshan Sahoo is presently working in theGovernment of India Text Book Press, Bhubaneswar.